Boys basketball | Santos follows family tradition on court

Vikings coach plans to put junior at point guard

K.J. Santos' development took slightly more time than other family members.

The Geneva product arrived on the varsity basketball team in early December.

He quickly made his mark and blossomed into one of Chicagoland area's better players in the Class of 2015.

Coming from a family of athletes, Santos started last season on the sophomore level. Santos' older sister, Ashley, was a highly recruited player out of Geneva and signed with Marquette.

Another sister, Sidney, was a key player for the Vikings last year as a junior.

His mother played basketball at Wichita State, and his father and uncle played for Puerto Rico's national team and in professional leagues.

K.J. Santos is set to follow in the family's hoops tradition with a big junior season after a strong showing this summer.

"I think from what we've been able to see so far this summer that K.J. is playing at a new level," Geneva coach Phil Ralston said. "He's got more confidence in his abilities and really matured as a player.

"He's really stepped up now."

The 6-foot-6 Santos gives Ralston a multitude of options with his size, length and dribbling ability. Ralston plans to use Santos at point guard at times to create matchup problems.

"K.J.'s a very versatile player," Ralston said. "He's got the potential to play point.

"We can go with a big lineup at times with him at point."

Santos has worked on his defense and rebounding since last season.

The Vikings, led by up-and-coming Nate Navigato, expect to compete for the Upstate Eight Conference's River Division title after racking up a 21-9 mark last season.

"We have a team that's got eight different kids that can start at programs in our area," Ralston said. "We have a lot of very good players. Our success is going to be determined how that talent works together.

"We saw glimmers of excellence this summer. K.J.'s a key part of that. He worked hard on his defense this summer. He got his feet wet on varsity last year and we expect better things from him."